memeorandum: While Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad soaks up Manhattan high life, his underlings … (NY Daily News)

4:25 PM ET, September 27, 2012

Top Items:

From video to terrorist attack: a definitive timeline of administration statements on the Libya attack — “We are still doing an investigation.” — In any kind of confused overseas event, initial reports are often wrong. But the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Little Green Footballs, Politico, Real Clear Politics, Weekly Standard, No More Mister Nice Blog, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, FP Passport, Althouse, National Review, The PJ Tatler, Wake up America, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, ABCNEWS, UrbanGrounds and New York Times

Wall Street Journal:

The Libya Debacle — The more we learn, the more Benghazi looks like a gross security failure. — In his United Nations speech on Tuesday, President Obama talked about the September 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya and declared that “there should be no doubt that we will be relentless …

Discussion: Mediaite, Politico, Washington Examiner, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit and Weekly Standard

Fox News:

US officials knew Libya attack was terrorism within 24 hours, sources confirm — U.S. intelligence officials knew within 24 hours of the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Libya that it was a terrorist attack and suspected Al Qaeda-tied elements were involved, sources told Fox News …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Power Line, The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers, Sister Toldjah, Hot Air, Blazing Cat Fur and Los Angeles Times

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:
Carney: We Didn't Lie About Libya, We Just Had Different Facts At the Time

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Mediaite and Weasel Zippers

First Read:
First Thoughts: Obama's closing ad (with 40 days to go)

Discussion: National Review, The Fix, The Daily Caller, Weekly Standard, Taylor Marsh and Connecting.the.Dots

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Did Obama lie about the embassy attacks?

Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com, The Heritage Foundation and American Power

CNN:
Sources: FBI can't get to Benghazi

Discussion: Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, Outside the Beltway, Taylor Marsh, Macsmind, Weasel Zippers, Fox News, The PJ Tatler, americanthinker.com, Right Wing News and Washington Free Beacon

David Corn / Mother Jones:

NEW ROMNEY VIDEO: In 1985, He Said Bain Would “Harvest” Companies for Profits — This clip shows the young CEO focusing on businesses as targets for his investors, not as job creators or community stakeholders. — Campaigning for the presidency, Mitt Romney has pointed to his stint …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Moderate Voice, The Impolitic, ABCNEWS, Addicting Info, Mediaite, Taylor Marsh, Taegan Goddard's … and Mother Jones

Jesse Drucker / Bloomberg:

Romney ‘I Dig It’ Trust Gives Heirs Triple Benefit — In January 1999, a trust set up by Mitt Romney for his children and grandchildren reaped a 1,000 percent return on the sale of shares in Internet advertising firm DoubleClick Inc. — If Romney had given the cash directly …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and Brad DeLong

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Brutal new Obama ad features Mitt Romney and the 47 percenters — The Obama campaign has not sent this ad to national reporters, but I'm told it will air in the seven key swing states. It is a brutal shot at Mitt Romney's videotaped remarks about the freeloading 47 percent …

Discussion: New York Magazine, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, Ballot Box, Gothamist, Business Insider and The Hinterland Gazette

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Sept. 26: Could 2012 Be Like 2008? — There's no point in putting it gently: Mitt Romney had one of his worst polling days of the year on Wednesday. — It began with a series of polls from The New York Times, CBS News and Quinnipiac University, released early Wednesday morning …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and New York Times

Molly Ball / The Atlantic Online:

Obama's Brutal New ‘47 Percent’ Ad — In a new commercial airing heavily in swing states, the entire script is Romney's leaked comments about “entitled,” government-dependent “victims.” — CANTON, Ohio — The Obama campaign didn't put out a press release announcing this new TV ad Thursday …

Discussion: GOP 12, New York Magazine, Taylor Marsh and The Caucus

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Mitt Romney to ‘fact check’ Obama in debate — Mitt Romney plans to turn himself into a one-man truth squad during the first presidential debate next week, casting President Barack Obama as someone who can't be trusted to stick to the facts or keep his promises.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Alexander Burns / Politico:
Obama's two-minute, direct-to-camera ad

Discussion: CNN, The Impolitic, Taylor Marsh and Israel Matzav

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
Obama's Biggest Opponent Is the Truth

Discussion: his vorpal sword and The Lonely Conservative

Tara Palmeri / New York Post:

WATCH: Samuel L. Jackson debuts profanity-laced pro-Obama ad — He's hoping this scary bedtime story will make you run to the polls. — Samuel L. Jackson, whose video reading of the book “Go the F—k to Sleep” went viral on the Internet, is releasing a pro-Obama ad today in the spirit of Dr. Seuss …

Discussion: Jammie Wearing Fools, iOwnTheWorld.com, The Hinterland Gazette and Washington Examiner

CNN:
TRENDING: Samuel L. Jackson: ‘Wake the F*** up’ for Obama

Discussion: Washington Wire, Politico and Macleans.ca

Adele Hampton / The Hill: Samuel L. Jackson tells voters to ‘wake the f—k up’ in new ad

Jason Hancock / Midwest Democracy:

Todd Akin says Claire McCaskill is not as ‘ladylike’ as 2006 — JEFFERSON CITY - More than a month after his comments about “legitimate rape” nearly derailed his campaign for U.S. Senate, Republican Todd Akin said Thursday that it has become clear to him that he will triumph over Democratic incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill this fall.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, CNN, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Election 2012, The Raw Story, Hotline On Call and The Fix

The Fix:

Why Mitt Romney isn't going to get blown out — It's easy amid a slew of swing state and national polling that shows President Obama opening up a high single-digit lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney to conclude that we could be witnessing an electoral blowout in the making.

Discussion: AEIdeas, Hotline On Call, National Review, Ballot Box, The Daily Caller and The Hill

Washington Post:
Medicare working to boost Obama in swing states, poll finds

Discussion: Mother Jones, Orlando Sentinel and Election 2012

Nicholas Confessore / The Caucus:

Soros Gives $1 Million to Democratic ‘Super PAC’ — The billionaire George Soros is committing $1 million to Priorities USA Action, the “super PAC” supporting President Obama, two people with knowledge of the decision said Thursday, a significant donation that could help spur further contributions …

Discussion: Ballot Box, New York Times, The PJ Tatler, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Examiner and Business Insider

CNBC:

Durable Goods Orders Sink Even as Jobless Claims Fall — New durable goods orders in August fell by the most since the recession and a separate reading on the broader U.S. economy came in much weaker than expected. But weekly jobless claims sank to a two-month low, in a hopeful sign for the labor market.

Discussion: Hot Air, Associated Press, Outside the Beltway, The PJ Tatler, The Gateway Pundit, GOP 12, americanthinker.com and Jammie Wearing Fools

James Pethokoukis / AEIdeas:
GDP collapse puts U.S. economy into recession red zone

Discussion: protein wisdom, Power Line, Reuters and iOwnTheWorld.com

Travis Waldron / ThinkProgress:

Phoenix Mayor Attempts To Live On A Food Stamp Budget: 'I'm Tired, And It's Hard To Focus' — When local activist groups challenged Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton to live on a food stamp budget for a week to mark Hunger Awareness Month, he took them up on the offer and found out just how hard it was.

Discussion: Shakesville, Feministing, The Huffington Post and Hullabaloo

BuzzFeed:

Romney's Supporters Reject His Soft Line On Obama — A failed golfer-president, not Che Guevera Lite? Shouts of “No!” in Toledo. — Image by Brian Snyder / Reuters — TOLEDO, Ohio — Mitt Romney covered a lot of territory Wednesday — rhetorically and geographically …

Discussion: The Impolitic, Outside the Beltway and GOP 12

Bureau of Labor Statistics:

CES Preliminary Benchmark Announcement — In accordance with usual practice, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is announcing the preliminary estimate of the upcoming annual benchmark revision to the establishment survey employment series. The final benchmark revision will be issued on February 1 …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Firedoglake, Calculated Risk, ThinkProgress, Los Angeles Times, Washington Examiner, The Daily Beast, Economix, Wonkblog, Daily Kos, Business Insider, Oregon Office …, New York Magazine, The Maddow Blog and Mother Jones

NY Daily News:

While Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad soaks up Manhattan high life, his underlings go on shopping spree at discount chains Payless, Costco, Walgreens and Duane Reade — Visiting delegation rack up on shampoo, soap and vitamins. One visitor debated dropping $40 for kids' shoes at Fifth Ave.

Discussion: The Lede, Gothamist, Algemeiner.com, Fausta's Blog, New York Magazine and Althouse

ACLU:

New Justice Department Documents Show Huge Increase in Warrantless Electronic Surveillance — Justice Department documents released today by the ACLU reveal that federal law enforcement agencies are increasingly monitoring Americans' electronic communications, and doing so without warrants …

Discussion: Electronic Frontier Foundation, Firedoglake, Forbes, The Verge and Law Blog

William J. Bennett / CNN:

Why you shouldn't vote for Obama — The latest from the campaign trail … (CNN) — It has been said that a democratic republic such as ours is a do-it-yourself enterprise. People change the course of this country through conversation, debate and, eventually, consensus.

Discussion: National Review

Hotline On Call:

The Politics of Beer: Stay Nonpartisan, My Friends — Americans who most often drink Dos Equis are in the middle-of-the-road while drinkers of Heineken's flagship brand are strongly Democratic. Samuel Adams drinkers are strongly Republican, and more likely to vote.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Hit & Run and Washington Examiner

Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:

Taxpayers spent $1.4 billion on Obama family last year, perks questioned in new book — Taxpayers spent $1.4 billion dollars on everything from staffing, housing, flying and entertaining President Obama and his family last year, according to the author of a new book on taxpayer-funded presidential perks.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Weasel Zippers and UrbanGrounds

David Kirby / Cato @ Liberty:

Poll Shows Romney Winning High Water Mark for Libertarian Vote — In a recent article on TheBlaze, Reason's Matt Welch, FreedomWork's Matt Kibbe, and David Boaz, speculated whether Romney can win over libertarians. As we've shown in previous studies, libertarians represent a key swing vote that decides elections.